LOIS LANE IN THE PHANTOM ZONE
by fullmetalmarta
Summary: Lois Lane ends up ends up inadvertently sent to the phantom zone while investigating fights to the death between Zoners and is rescued by Clark. During the time in the Zone, Lois gets a glimpse of life on Krypton.
1. THE CONVERSATIONS

**CONVERSATIONS**

The day that Lois had that talk with Clark, she had come by to talk with Martha on support for a Bill Martha was working on. Martha was in the Kitchen reading the Smallville Ledger and drinking Coffee, when Lois came to back door.

"Hey Senator!" she said with a smile. "I have some good news for you, you have just gained enough support for you education bill to get it passed. Senator Johnston even sent me these funding proposals. I reviewed all the figures and it looks very promising!"

"That's great Lois, Here sit down and have some coffee." She walks over and picks up the coffee and pours a cup for Lois. She then sit down and starts looking at the briefs that Lois brought in. Lois picks up the paper and starts looking at the front page. On the bottom of the page, it has a story on Lex and Lana. Suddenly, she feels sorry for Clark and sets it back down.

Martha glances over, and speaks, "it's bad enough on him, without it being on the front page everyday." she says in a worried tone.

"How is Clark holding up?" she decides to ask.

"I can't get him to let go of it. I just wish Jonathan was here, he always knew what to say to Clark"

"God, I know it's gotta be so hard on you, How are you holding up?'

"Me? Oh I'm fine, but I am so worried about Clark, Sometimes I think he will never get over it. I just wish I knew what to do."

"He does tend to take things pretty hard. You know it's funny, he's so easy on everyone else, and yet so hard on himself."

"Don't I know it," Martha says as she roles her eyes at the thought of it. Actually, now that I think about it-Jonathan was the same way!"

"Hard headed huh?" Lois smiled as she looked at her.

"Yea" Martha smiled back.

"Then he'll be fine. After all, he has Jonathans strength!"

"Yea, he does, doesn't he?" Martha smiled and gives Lois a hug;" Sometimes you know just what to say!"

"I'll go check in on him when I leave" Lois says as she hugs Martha back. How lucky Clark is, she thinks to have such a great Mom!

He was in his Barn Moping about Lana, when he saw her car drive up. She went in the house. _"Probably to talk to mom about work"_ he thought. She was in there a good hour, and this was a little aggravating at the time to him. Not that he liked arguing with her. He was hoping she would distract him from this awful mood he found himself in. He felt like everything that had happened to Lana was his fault. And nothing he could do would change it. She seemed like such a stranger to him. She was not at all like the innocent girl he had once longed for. But then he wasn't the same either. They had both done things they had regretted. He looked out the window, and still she was in the house. He could go down and talk to her, but then his Mom would be around, and all she would do is tell him to leave Lana alone.

That is the last thing he needed to hear.

"_How can I leave her alone?"She is making such bad mistakes."_ He never could understand how she could trust Lex! No matter how he hurt her, for her to be so foolish, just made him realize that he couldn't trust her with his secret. She wasn't strong enough for that burden, and he knew it and it hurt.

He had his Dad's copy of Huckleberry Finn, and started reading it. As he turned the pages, he found himself wishing that he had his Dad's inner strength. Finally he heard someone coming up the stairs, and was pleased to find it was Lois, but his heart felt too heavy to give her a smile this time.

"How's it going Smallville?" she said in an unusually gentle tone.

He took a breath and let it out. He looked at her and down at the floor. Before he could reply, she spoke again.

"You're Mom is really worried about you, you know."

"Yea" He looked at her briefly and said in a heartfelt tone" I just wish I could move on."

She pulls up a chair across from him and looks at him, and waits for him a moment. When he doesn't say anything else, she continues.

"Okay, so what exactly is it that's keeping you from moving on?"

"That's a good question." he thought. "I don't know…It's just that she has been hurt so much. And no matter what I do, everything seems to get worse."

"You know," She started, "I don't understand why you feel responsible for everything that happens"

"It's my fault" he says. He then gets up and walks to the loft window, remembering when he use to look out in the distance at Lana.

She gets up and stands behind him and continues.

"Why, because you broke up with her?

"That's when everything started…" he looks down.

"So are you upset because you still love her, or because you feel guilty and responsible for her?"

He turns his head momentarily and looks at her, not sure himself of what he is feeling, "I don't know…" he says as he looks back down.

"Look," She says firmly, "It's not your fault that she decided to trust Lex. What I don't understand is why are you determined to make it your fault?" She stops and looks at him, but he gives no answer. He can't even begin to get into why it's his fault.

"Is it because by making this "your mess", that you think that you have a better chance of fixing it?" She wonders out loud to him

He looked at her in astonishment. It's true; this is something he hadn't thought of.

"Look Smallville," she continued, "as **noble** as your intentions are, there is nothing you can do to fix this. Everything that you have tried hasn't changed a thing, and that's because Lana is the only one who can decide to turn this mess around. All you're doing in the meantime is putting your life on hold waiting for her to wake up, I mean, your making yourself miserable!"

"Maybe you're right…"

"I know I'm Right."

"Clark, _This mess, This Wedding_- it's not your fault. My God, everyone knows that you have done everything you can to try to help her." She hesitates and gives him a comforting look.

"You have a right to move on; you need to find someone that makes you feel good about yourself, someone that makes you want to smile all the time."  
_"His biggest problem"_, she thinks to herself, _"is he just never started dating after Lana."_

She tries to think of something more to say to help him realize he has a choice, and then says,

"Just because you allow yourself to be happy, that doesn't mean you can't help your friends when they need help, does it?"

"No, it doesn't…" He says thoughtfully

He just looks at her and smiles weakly.

"Maybe if she sees you moving on, being with someone that you care about, and being happy about it, it will make it easier for her to move on."

He just looks at her

"I don't know how she feels…"

"Then maybe that's the problem. You need to know where you stand when you're in love, and neither one of you have never been on the same page. I don't think that its bad luck or a coincidence, you have too many other things that are part of both of you that's in the way. And that's not your fault or hers either."

He looks down and thoughtfully reflects, _"How can she see things so clearly without knowing much of anything?"_

"I have always thought that there are always things in the way between us."

"Like I said, that's not your fault, or hers. You just have to realize that maybe you both are better off as friends. Then maybe those _'things'_ won't matter anymore

"You don't know how much I wish that were true."

"Clark…" She takes and puts both hands on his face and gently pulls it to look at her and then says "You have a choice, _and you can_ choose to be happy!" The feel of her hand on his face made him feel a rumble dip in the pit of him. It was a sudden urge he had to put his hands on top of hers and then kiss her palms. Instead, he shoots her a large smile. She smiles back as she removes her hands, and places one on his shoulder.

"You know Clark; you don't have to carry the world on your shoulders." She squeezes his shoulder as she says this to him

He looks at her and still smiling and says

"No, I guess I don't..."

She shoots him a big smile and says, "Glad to hear it Smallville!" She squeezes his shoulder again. Then she turns and starts walking away down the loft stairs.

"Now start going easy on yourself for a change!"

"No wonder I wanted to see her..." he thought to himself as he watched her leave the barn.

After that conversation, he realized he wanted to see her every day, even to argue with her, or annoy her. It all felt good whatever he was doing with her.


	2. WRESTLING

**WRESTLING**

Two days later, Clark is on his way to town, picking up supplies. Martha asked him to drop some papers off at Lois's place for her. He tries to call her cell phone a few times, but no answer. He is very frustrated.

Clark is knocking on the door loudly, trying to get her to answer ...Whitesnake music is blasting behind the door- Lois doesn't answer!  
Finally, he opens the door, walks over and turns off the cd- "Lois, if you turned that down, you could probably answer the door and the phone when someone calls!"  
Lois-" Hey! This is my favorite CD!-don't turn that down! What do you want anyway Smallville?"  
Clark-"Why do you like whitesnake so much?" is looking at her intensely...  
Lois-"Why do you like plaid so much? "

Clark just looks at her and roles his eyes at her."Mom asked me to bring these by, he hands her a stack of papers.  
She takes them and starts looking at them.  
He starts walking around, like he wants something. she just glances at him curiously a couple of times but then goes back to looking at the papers.  
Finally she figures she better ask him before he wears out he floor walking.  
Clark doesn't know why he's still hanging around. He isn't in the mood to go home or be alone. and she is just being as dismissive as ever. This is really annoying him.

Finally she sets the papers down and looks at him.  
"What's wrong with you Smallville? Have you got something on your mind?"  
He just looks at her and tries to think of something to say. "How come you like whitesnake so much?" he spits out. "That was stupid! he thinks to himself "Why am I asking her that again!"

Lois is totally confused. "What the hell is wrong with him?" she thinks.

"Well, for one thing, Three Star Generals hate White Snake! and secondly, it seems to annoy you. So that's enough for me."  
She smiles a sarcastic grin at him. he smiles back but doesn't know what to say.

She gives him a serious look and waits for him to say something, anything!  
There is something about him that is making her uneasy. "It's like he's waiting on me to do something..." she thinks.

Finally, he thinks of something.  
"So, have you been working on any new stories lately?"  
"Well, yes. Not that I'm giving you any details!"  
"Lois! I'm not competing with you!"  
"Maybe, but you tend to give a certain cousin of mine a hand when it comes to news, so lets just not go there!"  
He just looks at her and roles his eyes.  
"Not everything is a competition you know!"

"Sometimes, competition is good for you. You know…, she thinks out loud "You should take a taekwondo or karate course,"

Before she can finish, He starts laughing at her.

"Seriously, it would help you work out your frustrations"

"Lois, I know how to fight." He looks at her sarcastically.

"Taekwondo and Karate isn't about fighting, it's about mind and body discipline."

He just looks at her very amused

"Okay, with karate, you can take someone twice your size and take them out in under a minute"

"I don't think so"

"You want to bet?" she says challenging him

"Okay, take your best shot!"

"20 bucks when I win!" She says with confidence

She gets up and moves the coffee table out of the way. He just looks at her and holds his arms out with his palms up impatiently

She grabs his right arm turns around and to his surprise she flips him on to the ground.

"Fine" he thinks, "Two can play this game!" He holds his hand out and gives her a sheepish grin.

"Okay Smallville," she says happily "Time to pay up!" and with that she takes his hand to pull him up only to find herself on her back and him on top.

"Okay," she thinks, I'll just have to try another move on him. With that she tries to flip him back around, but finds he isn't budging! Not at all!

"What are you made of, Lead?! She says in her most annoyed manner.

"Not exactly," he says as he grins at her.

"Fine, let me up"

He just looks at her, the smile disappears and he seems to be in deep thought.

"Come-on Smallville, I don't want to have to hurt you!" She says hoping he will smile and get up.

Instead he leans in, "I was thinking, he said in an almost whisper, "maybe…maybe we could…he leans in and closes his eyes and she knows he is about to kiss her.

She wants to push him away. She doesn't. She wants to say something to make him mad, she doesn't. Instead she closes her eyes and opens her mouth in anticipation, when they both hear the door open and Chloe's voice as she says in shock at what she thinks she is seeing, "Whoa, am I interrupting something? She says trying to contain her laughter. The sight of the two of them together like that, is funny as Hell to her!

Clark jumps up, (trying to remember not to super speed up!) and says in his most guilty voice, "Uh, Lois was just showing me some karate."

"Yea," Chloe says as she eyes Lois

Lois rolls her eyes at Chloe as she gets up. "Your timing is perfect" she says, "I was just about to kick Clarks butt!" And with that she hits him in his arm harder than she usually does and gives him an angry frown.

"Yea, you really looked like you were on top of things Lois!" Chloe says teasingly

"Hah" she looks at Chloe sarcastically, and then turns to Clark "you know, you might have caught me off guard one time, but it won't happen again!" and with that, she gives him a twenty.

"We had a bet…" Clark says with a red face.

Chloe just looks at both of them, even more amused; she just can't help but laugh. Clark, is turning three shades of red by now, and decides to get the hell out of there.

"I have to go now" he says as he almost trips to the door.

When he leaves, Chloe looks at Lois still smiling, and says "Okay, what was really going on?"


	3. MOVING ON

** MOVING ON **

All the way home, Clark was turning over in his mind what had happened, he was upset that Chloe came in and saw them, but even more, he was surprised. Surprised that Lois was actually going to let him kiss her. He liked kissing her, but both times he had done it before, she wasn't a participant who was really aware to say the least. He never thought she would let him intentionally kiss her, in fact he half expected her to hit him or insult him, but instead she closed her eyes and opened her mouth, clearly inviting him to continue.  
But now that Chloe saw them, he wasn't sure what Lois would do. It would be his luck that she would be more dismissive and insulting than ever before.

Lois, on the other hand- was trying to do damage control with Chloe.

Chloe smile disappeared from her face as she gave Lois a more serious and scolding look.  
"Well?!"  
"Oh, come on Chloe; don't look at me like that!"  
Lois gives her an innocent and pleading look. But Chloe just keeps looking; she has no sympathy for her at the moment.  
"Now you're mad at me, I swear Chloe; it's not what you think!"  
"You know Lois, I can understand if you like Clark, what I don't like is the idea that you would do anything without asking me about my feelings first! How could you!" Chloe stopped and was still very angry. It's an unspoken rule amongst women that you don't date men that your girlfriend use to date or even worse had a crush on.  
"It's not my fault; he was acting weird the whole time he was here! Honest..."  
Chloe just stared at her.  
Lois just sat down in defeat.  
"Chloe, I'm sorry...I swear though, I don't know what happened, I was arguing with him about karate and then he kept laughing like it was a useless thing to learn. So I made a bet with him."  
Chloe wasn't frowning, but she was puzzled.  
Lois just looked at her, feeling ridiculous and continued.  
"I told him that you could take someone twice your size out in under a minute, He mocked me, so I bet him 20 bucks that I could. "  
She just looked at Lois in a disapproving manner.  
"Everything was fine, I flipped him and told him to pay up, and then..."

"Then what?" Chloe said curiously  
Well he acted like he wanted help up, so I grabbed his hand to pull him up, and, and...  
"And what?" Chloe said with a new frown.  
"Well, that's when he flipped me on the ground."  
Then what? She said wanting an admission from Lois.  
"I don't know Chloe-" she said quietly "I asked him to let me up so I could pay up, and he just, he just wouldn't move."  
Chloe gave Lois a serious look.  
" I didn't what he was thinking, I mean, I didn't know what to do."  
"I'm so sorry, I promise, I would never want to do anything to hurt you...but I guess I have."

Chloe gave her a forgiving look, and gave her a hug. Lois cried a little, and whispered again, I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay," Chloe started, "So now what about you and Clark?"  
Lois just looked at her and tried to think.  
"What about us... she thought as she shook her head."  
" Maybe he got infected with some meteor something she said to Chloe"  
"Well that would explain what HE was doing!" she said sarcastically.  
"Chloe!" Lois blushed, trying to find something to say to ease her cousin's fears. "I have no intention of letting this happen again she said to herself."  
And then she spoke with all seriousness,  
"I promise, it's just like I said when he left, He caught me off guard one time, but it won't happen again!"

Chloe smiled, doubting that this was the end of it and said, "We'll see about that."

Lois just glared.

The Next day Lois has a meeting with Martha at the Kent farm. She is really nervous about going up there and running into Clark. But in spite of that she knows she has to go.

She pulls in the drive only to see Clark coming out of the Barn. She sees him looking at her and wonders what he is going to say or do.  
"Maybe he's just going through some kind of guy thing..." She thinks hopefully.  
Clark sees her car in the distance and super speeds down to the barn door; he walks out just as she pulls up. He doesn't know what he is going to say to her, but he figures he better back off a step to keep her from pushing him away.  
"Lois, What are you doing here?" He tries to sound sarcastic, but comes off more nervous than anything.  
"Relax; I'm here to see your Mom."  
"Good!" he replies  
This makes her a little mad, "Who the hell does he think he is? He's the one that was acting crazy, now he's acting like I did something!"  
"Don't you have something better to do than stand here and harass me?"  
"Don't you have a meeting with my Mom?" he says in a successfully sarcastic tone."  
"What's your problem Smallville?!" She scoffs at him  
He just stands there arms folded frowning at her not knowing what to say.

"That's what I thought; Get back to your cows Smallville!"  
And with that she rushes away into the house.  
Clark watches her walk away, but now he's smiling.  
He starting to have a bit of a crush on her, and it seems harmless enough. Even she said he should have some fun. He's the man of steel, so he can play with fire and not get burned right? What he doesn't realize is that he is going to get burnt, and he's going to take Lois with him to the fire.


	4. DANCING AROUND THEIR FEELINGS

**Dancing around their feelings  
**

Lois comes out of the house after a couple of hours. Clark is watching for her and goes over to her car to talk to her again. This time he was acting nice. Just as she opens her car door he comes up from behind her and startles her. "Hey Lois…"  
Lois swings around almost jumping. "GOD Smallville! Don't scare me like that!" She did NOT expect to see him again. She HATES that he keeps catching her off guard.  
He smiles a big smile at her and says "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Half laughing at the same time. She thinks he sound less than sincere.  
"God!" she repeats, "What is it?"  
"I just wanted to apologize for earlier this morning; I was being a real Jerk..."  
She is still nervous, although she doesn't understand why. She just wishes he would leave.  
He waits for an answer, but she doesn't say anything.  
"Okay?"  
She takes a deep breath and says "Yea, Okay."  
She hesitates; he sees that she is going to say something else. "Look, I know your going through a hard time," she knows she is going to regret asking, but she can't seem to stop the sudden urge. "But…" She takes another breath "What the Hell were you doing last night?!"  
He gives her his most UNCONVINCING innocent look, (He Thinks it's his most CONVINCING innocent look!) and says

"What? I don't know… what do you mean?"

"Oh, you're going to play it like nothing happened?" She is surprised at how annoyed she is finding herself. But she continues nonetheless. "That's actually perfect! She says firmly; let's turn the clock back a couple of days and go back to the way things were!"

"Lo-is!"

"Seriously!" she says, trying hard not to sound angry.

"Okay…" He doesn't know what else to say.

" Good!" and with that she turns and starts to open the car door, but he has a sudden urge to see if she will let him kiss her. He takes her arm and turns her around and says "Wait!"

"Now what?" I almost made a clean get away, she thinks to herself nervously.  
He takes her face in his hands and leans in and kisses her lips ever so gently but quickly as well. He then backs up, and keeps his eyes on hers and the after about four steps he turns and walks to the barn.  
She stands there mouth open, looking and feeling pale, trying to count in her head how many times she has been caught off guard by him. Two times? She thinks. No wait three, once for a minute ago when he snuck up behind me!"  
"Oh God, Am I in trouble!" she says softly to herself. She gets in her car and pulls out a Metallica CD and blasts her stereo, hoping to calm herself.

_ "Hush little baby, don't say a word!  
"Never mind that noise you heard"  
Exit light, Enter night  
Take my hand-off to never never land!_

Clark cannot contain himself. He can't believe she let him kiss her. Feeling satisfied more than he has been in a long time. He super sped up to the loft, and put a cold play CD in. He decided he would go out of his way to see her everyday and try to chip away at her resistance; obviously she was just as interested as he was.


	5. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

**CLOSE ENCOUNTERS**

Lois decides to spend her days in Metropolis working on the internet fighting story she has been investigating. The less she's around Clark, the better. And as long as she's in Smallville, there's no telling how often she'll run into him.  
She gets together with Jimmy Olson to see about some pictures of the place they have been using to broadcast the fights. She meets him at the Dailey Planet Break Room. 

"Jimmy, these are good, but couldn't you get any pictures of the inside?" 

"Hey, I camped out for three nights trying to get inside. They had these huge ugly guys outside guarding the place, I was lucky I was able to take these." 

"I've gotta find a way to get in, I have to have more than this and rumors if I want to get to the bottom of this."  
Jimmy looks skeptically at her and says, "You might want to rethink that, If they are have people dying in the wrestling matches, there's no telling what they'll do to someone snooping around trying to expose them!" 

"It's okay," she says seriously, "I know how to handle myself." I just have to do some more research before I decide on a plan of action. 

"Well," he says while he ponders her sanity, "I sure hope you know what you're doing!" 

"Hey, Guys what are you working on?" Upon hearing his voice, Lois can feel her heart begin pounding out of her chest. She doesn't like this feeling at all. She sips her coffee hoping he will go away as quickly as he came. But instead she feels a pair of hands on her shoulders, and what's worse she can feel his hands caressing them and his body lean in towards her.

"Four!" she says out loud without realizing it. And then she thinks to herself that's four times he has caught her off guard. 

"What?" Jimmy says while he's wondering what the funny look on her face is about. 

"Nothing Jimmy." And then turning her head slightly, she says, "We're working on a story, not that it's any of your business!" 

"Hey! Don't be so hasty." Jimmy says with authority. This is pretty dangerous stuff, he probably could help us."  
Lois roles her eyes at Jimmy and says "Yea and he'll run to your girlfriend and give her the story!"  
Clark leans in and says in her ear, "I'm not writing a story and I'm not working with Chloe either, so relax." 

"I could relax better if you sat down" She says instead of telling him to leave, which is what she wants to say. 

"Fine." He says, as he pulls up a chair and begins to stare a hole into Lois's Brain with a smile on his face. 

"Are you guys having some kind of fight?" Jimmy asks with confusion at their odd behavior. 

"YES!" Lois says, and at the very same moment Clark says "No!" Lois just glares at him. 

"Okay…" Jimmy says while he shifts his weight in his chair and back away from the table as if it would explode. 

"Let me go back to work, and I'll get with you later Lois." And with that Jimmy gets up and leaves them to it."

"What are you doing here?" She says to him while her spine chills at the thought of them being left alone. 

"I was in town, and I thought I would drop in." 

"Don't you have a Farm to run? Classes to go to?" 

"Actually I was picking up some feed for the horses."  
He just keeps staring at her and smiling. _"Dammit, what does he want?"_ she thinks to her self. Usually she is never at a loss for words, but his odd behavior has her apprehensive. She finds she doesn't know what to say to him. 

"What story are you working on?" he says finally.

"I'm not telling you! This is my story!" she says, grateful that he finally spoke. 

"Jimmy said it was dangerous" he says with a concerned look 

"Jimmy thinks the Great Pumpkin is dangerous!" She replies with her best sarcasm. 

"Lois, seriously, you need to be careful! Let me help." he says hoping she'll listen to him.

"I don't need anyone's help, especially yours!" she says with a frown.  
He wanders if he should bring up the kiss, and then decides not too.  
Before he can think of what else to say, Fear grips her and she gets up,

"I have to go, I have work to do!" 

And with that she rushed out so fast he begins to think she could super speed almost as well as him. He is beginning to lose his nerve. She didn't act like she was interested at all. As matter of fact, she was more dismissive and angrier than ever. He begins to wish he could have another argument with her, over something, anything. At least that would be better than her walking away.  
Lois finds herself in the bathroom bathing her face in water and hyperventilating. She was trying to get a hold of herself.

"_I can spend months with Good Looking Army Rangers and Marines and not be moved in the least. He puts his hand on me and I'm literally turning into silly putty! I've got to put a stop to this, some how! I can't function like this. Jesus Clark What is wrong with you!"_ she says aloud to herself. 

When she exits the bathroom, she head over to Chloe to check in on her before she leaves. 

"Hey, How's it going Cuz?" she says with her worst smile.  
Chloe just looks at her and then asks "What's wrong with you?" 

"Nothing, I just have a headache," she lies. 

"I have some aspirin!" She hears a voice behind her as a hand touches the small and now spine tingled part of her back.  
Chloe clearly notices the color in Lois face change, and tries not to be amused. 

"Hey Clark, Did you guys come up here together?" she says while smiling a taunting smile at Lois. 

"Not a chance" Lois says, trying to sound normal. Clarks hand still on her, she decides to move around the desk and face her enemy, just like her Dad taught her,

"Well, He wasn't thinking of this." she thought to herself.  
She stared him down, and refused to be the one to say anything further to him. 

"I wanted to ask you about something I'm working on with Jimmy, Do you have time? She says, finally taking her eyes off of Clark."  
Clark decides to get Bold again. He could hear her heart beat increase rapidly when he touched her, " that's gotta mean something!" He thought. 

"Lois, can I talk to you a minute?" he says 

"Yea?" she says impatiently 

"I mean alone" 

"Oh..." Now she's scared and with good reason! 

"We'll be right back."  
He then takes her hand and walks her to the phone booth she cornered him in, only this time he's pulling her in closing the door. 

"I agree we need to talk, but not like this" she says, but then he leans in. 

"I didn't bring you in here to talk"  
With that he takes her face in his hands and kisses her passionately, and when she puts her arms around him and begins kissing him back, he opens the door and leaves her there longing for him as he walks away.


	6. DESIRES

**DESIRES**

Lois finds herself at her apartment at the Talon. She has written a longwinded three page E-mail going into all the reasons that they shouldn't be a couple. But she cannot bring herself to send it. She keeps going over in her mind what will he think of her? 

"Am I obsessing over this, will he say I'm overreacting?"  
"He'll hate me if I send this." she says as she finally deletes what took her hour to write.  
One thing about Lois Lane, she might not be able to spell, but she was certainly longwinded, on paper as well as in person!

Suddenly she got an instant message, and it was from Clark.  
"Oh crap!" she said to no one. 

When she opened the message the first thing he wrote was  
"Wanna Kiss?"  
"Hah!" She said, and then she sent back an answer. 

"No!!!!" she sent back. Then she smiled. She was surprised to find that she was actually having fun. 

"Yea, right! Then why did you?" 

"You started it, I'm just trying to stop it!" she smiled as she wrote. 

"It's too late! I'm not stopping; your lips already told me they wanted too!" 

"I'm in charge of my lips, and what they want and don't want." she wrote back. 

"Wanna Bet?!" he wrote back.  
"No, just keep your distance Smallville;" she wrote back seriously,  
"You know this isn't a good idea."  
She waited-no answer 

She wrote again 

"Clark Please, You know I'm right!" 

"Wanna Bet?" he replied 

"No!" she sent back 

Clark was sending messages from the farm, but he supersped to her door with his laptop. He wasn't going to tell her his secret, but he was going to prove his point.  
He knocked at her door and called out her name- "Lois? Let me in!" he demanded  
She fell out of her chair, in shock! He was supposed to be a safe distance she thought.  
She slowly walked to the door and looked at him as he walked in with a big smile. 

"How the Hell?" she walked away from him backwards as he charged towards her. 

"Broadband" he lied 

"Hah," She gasped. 

"Okay, let's see who's right!" he said as he grabbed her and she found she just couldn't say no. He kissed her, and she kissed him back. He took her to the couch and started they started making out.

Unfortunately just when he got to second base, Jimmy was on the outside, knocking on the door. Lois jumped up; grateful something stopped him she found she couldn't. He was right! She didn't need to bet him about anything. When she let Jimmy in Clark looked all flustered, But Jimmy didn't notice, he was all excited about the story they were going to work on. 

In that moment, he found the leveler; her desire for a story was as great as her desire for him.

Dammit!


	7. THEY COLLIDE

**THEY COLLIDE**

Clark sits across from them both looking and pondering what he should do. He can get her to kiss him, but he can't get her to admit to it. He can't get her to admit to any kind of attraction.  
She is sitting talking with Jimmy oblivious to what had just happened between them, and completely in denial of the last few days.

"Lois?" He finally speaks up.  
"Can you show me that karate move again? I didn't quite get it."  
"You have a death wish Smallville?" she says with a scolding look.  
"Please don't tell me you're still fighting!" Jimmy hasn't quite caught on that it's not so much of a fight as it is a lover's game of tag!

"Not exactly, Lois replies "We're just annoying the hell out of each other!"

Jimmy just shakes his head.

Clark smiles, "I'm not annoyed."

"Look Clark, I have to work on this story. I don't have time for round five. Give me a break will you!"  
" Fine," He then leans in, and whispers in her ear, "But we are going to talk about us"

He then gets up and leaves.

When she and Jimmy come up with a plan of action, he leaves, and she sit down, and rewrites the e-mail to she had originally planned to send Clark. She reads it several times, and finally, reluctantly, she sends it.

Clark finds himself reading a long and very serious message from Lois asking him to "Please Back Off!" That "We have always been good friends, and that anything else would probably destroy that friendship." All the clichés was in the message. "We are too different." "I would drive you crazy." and finally surprisingly enough, "You deserve better..." that's how she ended it.

He was blindsided by this.  
She wasn't sarcastic, she was serious and yet it was evident she was trying to be gentle.

He wanted to send a message back asking her one question.  
"Do you love me?!"  
But he didn't.  
He should have, but he didn't.

By the time he get's up the nerve to reply to her it is almost morning. He sends her a message asking her one question.

"What was so special about the white snake CD...why would that mean anything?"  
He's trying to get her to change her mind. He waits for a reply, but nothing comes.  
He decides to go back over to see if he can catch her at her apartment, but finds she is gone.

Then he really starts to worry. It dawned on him immediately.  
The story. Jimmy said it was dangerous. And she is probably ignoring that fact.  
He superspeds over to the Daily Planet to see if Chloe knows anything. This is when he runs into her outside the Building and has a very bad argument about the story. 

"Lois, did you get my message?" He asks her. 

"Yes, but what is more important is that you got my message, I have no answer to your question that was personal!" 

"As personal as last night was, before we were interrupted by your obsessing over a dangerous story?" 

"I'll have you know I'm reporting, that's my job that's what I do."  
Lois you don't have any business following this story!" 

"And what I do is none of your Business"  
He grabs her arm, (but gently) and tries to pull her closer to him. 

"It's completely my business and you know it. You just don't want admit it..."  
She pulls away and frowns at him; she doesn't know what to say. 

"What are you afraid of Lois?" 

"Look back off!" she says loudly. And then she realizes she is the one actually taking some steps beck. 

He then tells her "This is more dangerous than you can imagine and then he told her in a commanding tone. "Lois, I can't let you do this. I'm telling you, you have to stay away from them!" This was a mistake. Lois, growing up around her father, a commanding tone was one thing that would almost always bring her to rebellion. "Butt out Smallville!" I'm not backing down now, and by the way I don't need you permission to do anything! You know, I'm getting very tired of your attitude. You're not my father, you're not my brother, and you're certainly not my boyfriend! So stop acting like you have a say in the matter and Butt out!"

These were her famous last words.


	8. UNDERCOVER

**UNDERCOVER**

She had decided to pose undercover as a fighter. This was the best way to get the story on fights that are set up between professional fighters and zoners, and find out who exactly these zoners are, and if rumors of fights to ending up in unreported deaths are true.

She left him behind, as he tried to keep talking, she had no idea what he was saying and didn't care. "He cannot tell me what I can and cannot do!" She thought to herself with renewed resolve. Clark is speechless as he watches her drive off in a mad dash. Deciding to let her go, he knew he would just have to keep an eye on her! 

Later that day, Lois finds herself in the middle of a fight with a zoner and the zoner is getting the best of her. Clark in the meantime has been delayed by a fight he had with a zoner that recognized him, by the time he got to where the fights were being held, he sees that Lois was already in the ring

"_What the Hell is she thinking?!"_ He wondered with frustration.

In the meantime, one of the Zoners is planning on using of the devices to send individuals to the phantom zone. He is after the other zoner that Lois is fighting. When the Zoner knocks her across the ring, she finds herself lying outside the ring on the sideline with the wind knocked out of her, he then jumps in the ring and attacks the other zoner. For a moment, Clark is relieved. He believes that for the moment she is safely out of the way. He should know better. The zoners are fighting over the device. Just as she gets up, she see's them fighting. She grabs a metal rod she see's near her, jumps back in the ring and tries to attack again. Just as she does Clark turns and see's her hitting one of the zoner's. The device flies from the Zoners hand past Lois, and Lois gets sucked into the phantom Zone within a fraction of a second.

The last thing she see's is Clark as he screams out- "Lois-No!" But she is gone .Clark takes his father's medallion and uses it on the zoners who are still fighting. Afterwards he rushed to the fortress of solitude to get another device. He figures he got in and out of the phantom zone once; he could do it again, only this time he needs to make sure no more zoners escape.

He goes to Chloe and tells her what happened. Chloe is frustrated with him; she looks at him and asks,

"Clark! Why didn't you warn her to stay away from them?"

Clark, clearly upset, explained,

"I did, and as usual she didn't listen! As a matter of fact she said she compared notes with you this morning and decided that she could handle it."

Looking intensely he then asked her, "Why didn't _you_ warn her?" Chloe frowned and replied "She asked me some questions about what I knew; I didn't think she was going undercover! I thought she was digging out information for her article." She then turned away and asked him- "Clark how are we going to get her out of there?!"  
I have one of the devices that sent me to the phantom zone. You have to use it on me, I got out of there once, and I can do it again. We have to hurry; I don't know how long she can last there!

"Clark, isn't there another way? You almost died the last time….!" She said in a frightened tone. "And she'll die if I don't do something, he said. Taking a breath, she could see his mind was made up and so she began- "Okay, how I use this thing?" She looked into his eyes, hoping she would see them again

Clark took the device in his hand and said to her as he lifted his hand, "Lift it up so high point the center, the hole in my direction, and then let it go." Chloe carefully took the device from his hand. She then lifts the device up. Pointing it in his direction and it falls from her hand past Clark, it comes back and sucks him into the zone. In less than five seconds, she is frightened out of her mind for his safety. She suddenly realizes that Mrs. Kent doesn't know what has happened, and gives her a call

Clark finds him self sliding down the abyss of a hill of hot dry gray sand. Creatures are flying by him and he takes off to find cover. He swore he would never come to this place ever again. And yet here he is. But this time he has his father's medallion. He fingers it with his hand as he thinks of Lois. God how she aggravated him! When he told her this was dangerous, and she looked at him like it was some sort of competition between them. She was so angry at him, _"Butt out Smallville!" I'm not backing down now, and by the way I don't need you permission to do anything!" I'm getting very tired of your attitude. You're not my father, you're not my brother, and you're certainly not my boyfriend! So stop acting like you have a say in the matter and Butt out!"_

He was so angry! At the Time he had thought to him self_- "God help the zoner that comes across her!"_ Now he is really sorry for getting angry. If only he had tried to distract her somehow, this wouldn't have happened. It had been three hours since she was sucked into the zone according to his fathers watch. He feared the worst…surely she's still alive he prayed to no one in particular.

He looked around to see if he saw anything that would give him an idea where to start. Nothing as far as his eye could see. He listens to see if his hearing would pick up anything. But nothing is all he was able to take in. With nothing to lose, he started going straight. It seemed like he was walking for hours, although it had only been two when one of those black winged creature came out of no where and attacked him. This time he took the medallion and touched the creature, instantly it dissolved. Still no Lois. _"This is all_ _my fault,"_ he thought. He again fingered the medallion in his pocket, put on the garments left behind by the creature and began again, this time in the direction that the creature had come from; hoping that this would take him to Lois.

In the meantime Lois found herself hitting this creature with the rod one minute and the next minute she felt as if she was falling through space. Finding herself in the glass like box, she asked herself out loud,

"Where the Hell am I?" No creatures, and thru the glass she saw what looked like the earth. "This must be a dream, I must be dreaming. They must have knocked me out."

But before she could finish the thought, she found the ground underneath her began to soften, and she began to fall through out the abyss.

"This is it," she thought, "I must be dying! God this sucks!" She thought. "This isn't anything like the last time I almost died…!"

Finally, she felt the breath leave her body as she hit what seemed like the ground.  
She had no idea what time it was or how long she had been out. She didn't have her watch or cell phone, although she doubted either would do her much good here. Beside her she found the metal bar she had used on the creatures. Grabbing it, she started on her journey through hell.

"This has got be hell!" She thought, unsure if it was true or not. "I yelled at Clark, and said horrible things to him, and now? Now God is punishing me. Just my luck! Way to go Lois!" 


	9. SEARCHING

**SEARCHING**

As she wandered thru what looked like a dark gray version of any desert she had been around, she looked to see, for signs of life. I've got to find water, or I won't last a day!" she said to no one. There were dark strange looking bushes in the far distant, and so she started out for them. Her only company was the metal pipe and her thoughts. She thought of the time she got lost in Saudi Arabia, when her father was stationed at Prince Sultan Air Base. He had gotten into an argument with her about going off base and she decided she didn't have to listen and took off in one of the jeeps as a teenager. She found her self on a road 50 miles from anywhere, and no gas. She was so busy being mad she didn't think about filling the fuel tank. "That's your problem." She said to herself. "You are so busy trying to prove something; you never stop to think about the consequences! God at least then I was lucky enough to catch a ride back to the base." 

"Why did I have to get mad at Clark?" She thought gently, obviously he knew something he wasn't telling her. I know he keeps a lot of things that he knows about to him self. Why couldn't I figure out that this was one of them? She hated the way he constantly got the best of her with his kindness. "I know what to do in a fight" she thought, "But how can you deal with someone who is so consistently and really aggravatingly nice?" Even when he tried to boss her around, he always ended up being right. "God I hate that about him" she said aloud to no one. 

"What I wouldn't give to see him again. I would even apologize!" She thought to herself.

"Okay, I'm not going to get out of here by thinking about Clark." She said with conviction, and then she started taking a stronger stride to the black bushes in the distance. "Between Lana, Chloe and my mouth, it's a waste of my time anyway."

Clark in the meantime had come to the zone at another place. Each portal would drop you into the zone a different place each time. The vast empty grayness of the zone was maddening. He came to a place he knew was once Raya's. An empty lean-to with some sort of dried jerky, he gather this and water looked like a container with water of something like it. He grabbed these things and looked for anything that might help him. He found a knife and some pieces of metal looking artifacts, with more Kryptonian symbols. "Raya!" He thought. She saved my life more than once, brought me to my father. How blessed he was to have her find him the first time he came through here. I wonder if it was destiny?" he said aloud. Looking around he saw what looked like a drawing on a piece of cloth, maybe this is a map of the zone! He looked at it carefully and tried to retrace each step he had taken. He recognized the place where he came into the zone this last time; the marking might be for portals he thought. Moments later he absorbed as much of the map in his brain as he could. He saw other markings that might represent portal. If I go toward them, I might find her after all! He carefully folded the cloth up and placed it in his back pocket. Again he started, but this time in a new direction.

Lois found herself observing a fight in the distance between two creatures. She slowly came towards them, using army tactics, she ran crawled and jumped and ran and then crawled towards them dropping on the ground as she got closer. Observing them in the distance, she saw it was an old man and something extremely hideous. As she watched, not sure of who she should route for.

"I'm betting that the hideous thing is one of the bad guy's!" She thought, and then doubted herself. When she saw that the old man was about to lose, she jumped the back of the hideous thing and hit him with the rod. The creature undaunted by her, threw her off and she landed about fifteen feet away from both of them. This however gave the old man time to grab some piece of metal and touch the creature. In that moment the hideous thing fell and fire blast out of the creature and then disappeared. The creature remained laying there lifeless and charred. Lois' eyes scanned the creature and the old man, and she began to fear that she had helped the wrong one.

"Don't come near me!" She screamed. "I want no trouble from you or anyone." The old man just looked at her, puzzled by her appearance and how she was dressed.

"Who are you?" he said in a deep stern voice.

"Someone who's trying to get the hell out of here!" she said back to him, hoping that maybe he could help her.

But her heart sunk with his next words.

"There is no way out of here! Once you are here, you are doomed forever to walk these lands!"

Clark quickly headed for the portal that was closest to him. As he was hiking, he was thrown to the ground by another one of the flying creatures. As he was attacked from behind he had been fingering the medallion in his hand and it fell from him a short distance away. At first unable to get away from the flapping and beating of the claws and wings, he began shouting at the thing, but this did no good. He then started crawling backwards and then rolled toward the medallion he grasped it in his hand; he thrust it toward the creature evaporating it. He fell back on the ground gasping to regain his breath; He would have to be more careful! He remembered the look he saw on Lois faces as she was being sucked into this dead land. The confusion and fear, and there he stood helpless. It was so unlike her to show any trace of fear. But in that moment he saw it. He took a breath and started back on the course he had set out, it had now been another four hours, and he was beginning to lose hope that he would ever find her.

The old man held out an ancient hand, and Lois realized that she wasn't in danger. She grasped the hand and pulled herself up.

"What is this place? She asked looking in to his eyes for hope. This is the phantom zone created by Jor-el for sentenced criminals from Krypton!" he said with a stern look. "The what? Created by who? So I guess I'm not in hell then…"

He looked at her and smiled, "You don't look much like a criminal, and you don't look very dangerous either!" Lois frowned at him and thought- to her self "That old man would have gotten his ass kicked if it weren't for me!" She then spoke to him with her voice raised, "You don't look like you could win at arm wrestling much less in a fight! And you would have gotten your ass kicked if it weren't for me distracting that hideous thing!"

"Slow down there!" He said as he smiled at her. "I just meant that you don't appear to be from Krypton." You must be from earth; I've heard stories about Kal-el from earth coming to the zone and some escaping with him. But, I didn't think they were true!"

"Kal-el" she thought, "Where have I heard that name before?" But she couldn't think. So she asked –"Who is Kal-el? I have heard that name somewhere. Do you have any food water? I don't think I can stand another minute!" She closed her eyes, wishing she would wake up from this nightmare. "Come with me." He said as he held out his arm, leaning on him she moved in the direction the old man took her. She was no longer sure of her feet her strength, and considering the look of the creatures, how long she had to live.

Clark stopped to take a rest and a bit of water and mystery jerky. He looked at his watch and saw it had been more than 7 hours since she left him. At home it was 1 in the morning. He had found what looked like an abandoned lean-to covered in sand and bush. He laid his head down and set his watch, ten minutes he thought, and then I'll start again. As he drifted off to sleep, he dreamed of Raya. She was beside walking beside him at the farm, and telling him about his father and his mother from krypton. How he hated the thought of them at one time! And when he saw his mother in a dream it melted away. With Raya, he realized he could love his birth parents. If only he could see his birth mothers face. "What are you thinking of? Raya asked him "I was just thinking about my mother, what did she look like? Raya smiled at him," She looked a lot like you. She had dark hair and eyes, and a great smile. Her laugh is thing I remember most about her. She had a laugh that made everyone stop and smile. I think perhaps your smile reminds me of her the most. Happy at the thought that he took after his birth mother, he smiled at Raya a large overwhelming smile! Raya smiled back at him and then said, "I have something for you-"

She handed him a locket- it looked like silver, but felt like the three stones he had to find. Inside was a picture of his mother. Overwhelmed, he looked at her and said "Raya…"

But before he could finish he turned heard a buzzing, turning to see what it was, he found himself awake and staring at his watch. He looked in his hands for the locket he dreamed of, but instead there was the medallion that belonged to his father. Rising up he headed in a direction towards hope.

What seemed like hours later, Lois found her self staring at an arrangement of artifacts that looked like those symbols in the creepy cave by the Kent Farm. Inside the cloth lean-to where some parcels of metals hung like wind chimes. Searching through the artifacts for some answer to where she was, she found nothing of any comfort. Sliver like pieces of metals everywhere with the strange symbols on them. For some reason, she thought of her mother. She remembered when she was four- running thru a hanger surrounded by uniforms. Her mother was running after her laughing and telling her to be still. She thought it was so amazing that everyone was dressed the same. "If only I hadn't yelled at Clark, I'd be in heaven with mom instead of this hell whole" she thought to her self...taking a breath she said his name aloud before she realized it. "What?" said the old man staring at her as he handed her some kind of strange substance. She looked at him- "I was thinking of my mother..." She said softly.

"Your Mother's name is Clark?" he answered her with a puzzled look. "No, I just-I mean….Oh, never mind!" She said with a little anger and then said- "What is this? She was looking at the substance imagining all the flavors that she detested... "Its food." He answered. Eat. She took a bite and it tasted salty and fishy, and she hated it instantly. She quickly ate it, hoping the taste would leave her as quickly.

"Who is Kal-el?" She finally asked, "And who are you? And how do I get out of here?" So many questions! You should answer my questions first before I give you this doomed lands history! You have nothing but time on your hands as it is!" He sat down and smiled at her as he handed her something to drink.

Clark came upon what looked like a battle scene as he slowly approached he realized the creature was not only dead, but was burnt black as if it was in a fire. "Fire?" he said to himself confused. How? Is there another power, or another creature? With out his powers, he had to rely on the medallion to keep him safe. But, he had to be more careful. There might be a power that I cannot fight with the medallion. He began to search around the area for any other evidence of any thing else, but in the distance he saw what looked like an ordinary stick. As he walked upon it, he realized what it was and he gasped to himself… "Lois!"

The old man sat across from Lois, eyeing her strong glare that she had given him for most of there journey. Curiosity overtook him and he began questioning her as to who she was and how she came to be in this dead land. "Why should I trust you?" she questioned him. Then she realized the question itself was ridiculous, considering her circumstances. "Okay, I guess I haven't got a prayer, so why should it matter?" The old man looked at her blankly. "I from a place called Metropolis. I was fighting these, these….I don't know what you call them, but they were attacking everyone. So I grabbed a pipe and started to try to fight back, take one out, you know? And then all of a sudden this strange device came flying past me, I was falling into something and I landed here. At first I thought I had died. Now, I don't know what happened. It must have something to do with those creatures I was fighting." she finally ended. "So, how do they call you?" he asked her.

They call me Lois, and who are you? "I am Pal-our, from the house of OR. He answered her. "Or what?" she said making a joke to herself. He just looked at her unsure of what she was saying and continued. "I am one of the elders that were on the council during the time that Krypton was destroyed' I voted against Jor-el and his warning of Zod. I choose to believe a lie, and now my planet is gone" He looked down and for a moment Lois felt sorry for the old man. "And who is Kal-el?" She asked him softly. "He is the son of Jor-el, "The last son of Krypton!" She eyed him, and suddenly remembered where she had heard that name. In the hospital! She thought, when those barbarians were attacking, they asked for Kal-el! Whatever happened to them she wondered? "Can he get us out of here? And do we even want to know him?" But before he could answer a dark creature from the bowls of the earth came and began attacking the old man. At first she tried to kick at the creature hoping to knock him over. But instead a large claw like hand came out and a huge gash appeared on her leg. Her jeans quickly were quickly covered in blood. Lois fell back and began looking for something to hit the creature with when she realized she had left the metal pipe behind. She jumped on the creature again, hoping that she wouldn't be killed in the process. But the creature threw her off as if she was nothing. She raised her head, only to see the blackness overtake her. She fell unconscious.

In the distance, Clark saw something, but he wasn't sure what it was. Cautiously he began running towards what he hoped was Lois. When he came close enough to see it was her, he saw the large amount of blood pooled around her leg. He began to fear she was dead. But as he leaned down to her he could feel her breath on his face. Lifting her up, he carried her to the lean-to. There was an old man lying dead in front of it. He moved him out of sight. He leaned down in front of her picked up her head and tried to give her a little fluid from the skin he carried. Coughing she looked up at him and in shook, she was sure she must have been dreaming. She lifted her hand-touched his face and felt his skin …he was real! She pulled away from him in shock and just stared. "I was sure… I was sure I had died!" She remembered her promise she made to her self to apologize to him…_Not now!_ She thought. But an overwhelming feeling of escape passed over her. And she grabbed Clark and said softly "Thank God you're here!" I thought I would never see you… I mean _**anyone**_…. And then embarrassed by her own flood of emotions, she decided to shut up before she said anything else that sounded foolish.

Relieve is all that Clark could feel. He knew she was scared; she would not show her emotions otherwise. "It's okay. He said…. I know how to get out of here!" She eyed him curiously and then questioned him "How did you get here? How did you even know what to do?" He looked at her helplessly, and then reaching way back through his imagination he replied. "One of the Zoners dropped a device like the one they used on you. I had Chloe to help use it they way they did when it trapped you." She looked at him, wondering what he wasn't telling her and stated to ask him how he knew what to do to get out of this hell. But then realizing how grateful she was that he was there, she let it go and said nothing. Clark looked at her hoping she wouldn't think of anything else to ask him.

He then glanced down at her leg, still bleeding, he looked at her and said…"I need to look at your leg"

"Okay…" she didn't quite get it. _"So look at it already!"_ she thought with frustration.

He swallowed, imagining black lace barely covering her and his face turned red as he tried to find a way to tell her she needed to remove her jeans.

He tried for a serious look… "You need to…can you…" he pointed at the top of her jeans, and suddenly she started blushing.

"Great…"

He looked at her, surprised that she was blushing as well. He was sure she would tease him. Instead she said firmly...

"Give me a second"

He just looked at her waist until she broke him from his trance… "Do you mind? Turn around!"

He grinned and then frowned again trying to look serious and failing. Then he turned around. She loosened her jeans and when she started to feel the pain from the gash in her legs…

"Ahhh…Ohhhh" She screamed loudly. Suddenly she felt dizzy, as if she could pass out. Quickly he turned around and started helping her without asking permission. She was in too much pain to object. They both saw the blush and embarrassment in each others eyes. Especially as his eyes widen at the sight of her red silk panties, they barely covered her. She hated that he knew she was blushing at his touch and even more at his gaze on her most private place. Still she stared at him intently watching his eyes, and wondering what was in his thoughts. He kept glancing at her, looking for signs of pain and grateful that he was able to take them off of her gently. He then removed his coat and then his shirt. She just looked at him.

"What are you doing?" she asked nervously.

"I'm making a bandage." He ripped a strip of the bottom of his shirt and then said…"I'm sorry, it's all I have."

She closed her eyes for as second, he poured some water on her wound and then took the shirt and wrapped it around her leg. "At least they match you panties" he said without thinking. She opened her eyes and looked at him with wide eyes.

"You should rest." He said guiltily.

Suddenly she realized they shouldn't have been alone.

"Clark…What happened to the old man?"

"He's…he's gone."

"Dead?"

He knelt beside her and grabbed a fur cover, and draped it over her, and said "Just rest. We can leave here when you are better."

"It's too dangerous to wait, we need to leave now!" She rose up and started to reach for her jeans when the dizziness overtook her, and her head fell back down.

He handed her the skin of water, and she grabbed it and drank some quickly.

"Just sleep, I'll stand guard."

"Maybe…just a few minutes…" She closed her eyes and felt the warm wave of sleep taking her away.


	10. DREAMS OF KRYPTON

**KRYPTON**

Surrounded by strange and huge towers of crystal, all in a circle emitting a strong and powerful light that encompassed everyone and everything inside the circle as well as out of it she stood in awe and muttered to herself…

"How in the hell did I get here?"

A deep rich voice behind her startled her more than the place did.

"You came…I thought you wanted nothing to do with the house of EL?"

She quickly turned around and realized everyone including herself was wearing these Greek like clothes and robes, only the fabric was nothing she ever had felt. What was even more startling was Clark was standing in front of her his hand out stretched as if he wanted her to take his hand.

She took it, and started to ask him what the hell was happening, but found she didn't have the chance or wherewithal to speak. He spoke again.

"Once you take this step, become Manis Nymph, there is no turning back…for either of us."

"Ma…Manis…Nymph?"

He walked over and wrapped his arms around her. "I know this is scaring you…I know this is not how you thought your life would be here…It must have been hard for you, growing up on this adopted planet, and then becoming a part of the establishment…something you have always fought…But I believe fate has brought us together for a reason." He then did something truly amazing. He kissed her. And she found herself kissing him back her hand pull his neck so that she could explore his mouth He pulled away. "My family is awaiting. They told me you would come…but I must confess…I was very unsure…but now, you will become one with me…you will have our children, and we will save our planet from the old ways."

She let out a breath she was holding and as he took her hand, she followed him to one of the towers. She began trying to concentrate on one thing …her breathing.

"_In…Out…In…Out…It's just a dream, that's all…nothing more…" _but she knew something more was happening, it was like an alternate reality that she was being swept through, for a purpose…but what?

She found her self floating up the tower on a blanket of air with her hand in his. Then quietly she studied him. He seemed taller stronger, Much more confident. He was wearing dark blue shirt pants, a Roman like cape and an emblem on his chest that looked more like a snake than an S. She was wearing…what else would a bride wear but white? Even in an advanced planet as Krypton, it was as antiquated as earth in many ways… _"Wait…why did I think that?"_ She reached deep in her mind and sensed a different parallel set of memories. Her years of research of a planet called earth…her birth home that had exploded in a nuclear war. Everyone knew who she was, where she was from. She had no powers, but mentally she grew to be a strong woman- Opinionated and very persuasive. Her earth father would have been proud, had he lived. She grew up in a Kryptonian version of an orphanage, but it was far more like a home than those on earth would ever hope to become. No father no mother, but many older and supposedly wiser men and women to argue with. And argue she did.

"No wonder earth men were centuries behind us, they never listen!" she remembered one elder saying to her.

"And I'm a WOMAN from earth, and I'm not centuries behind anyone!" she remembered walking away and crashing right into Kal-el, He was someone she at first distrusted and usually and most frustratingly found herself on the losing side of arguments with.

Sometimes it seemed that he would go out of his way to find her and argue with her about something she had written about the elders; Especially anything to do with the house of EL.

Even on Krypton, she was a reporter.

She remembered their first encounter as if it was just happening.

"So you're the misinformed writer from the Krypton Sun. Funny, I thought you would be more intimidating." He grinned at her largely, just as Clark would have done if he was teasing her. It took her breath away

At that time he was wearing nothing but black, and it made him look sexy as hell. She remembered gasping at him. It was the way of Kryptonian's that if you were interested in someone, sexually or otherwise, there was no hiding it. Everyone knew. There was no hiding any feelings on krypton. It was just not their way. Of course Lois was different.

She always was.

"Do I know you? I don't think so!" and with that, she pushed past him, in an attempt to hide her attraction. But he turned her around, and of course he was very comfortable with the Kryptonian traditions.

"Lane..Lois Lane…Why did you adapt you earth name? I've always wondered."

"Who are you?" She said annoyed as ever that she couldn't shake him loose.

"I am Kal-el. I came to debate your last article with you, but now- Now I'd like to be the next one in your bed." He grinned and let loose of her arm. It was another Kryptonian way. Express interest and then give the other party room to decide if they wanted to engage in the _"activity" _or not. She always felt so out of sorts at these games. She was the other party and it was expected to respond before going to other matters.

She didn't even try to follow the rules of social conduct; it was something that had gotten her into more trouble than she cared to remember.

"What about my last article did you want to debate?"

He looked at her shocked. _"She didn't even respond."_

"You don't follows rules do you?" he asked with interest

"Not other humans rules…no, just my own. What? Are you scared to debate me? The truth bites doesn't it?"

He frowned and started pacing around her like a Plahue- (A Kryptonian equivalent of a bear) "My father has spent years researching and verify his studies of Mount Argo. His only purpose is to try to save the humanity from the disaster it holds. I can show you any of his work, I have his permission."

"Really?" She hated the word the moment it left her mouth. She sounded infantile and like she was interested in him. She didn't like the rules of love…not on this planet. It put a girl at to much of a disadvantage.

He turned and grinned and held out a hand. That time she didn't take it. She stepped back and said,

"Never mind."

Now she really felt like an idiot, an idiot who was centuries behind the male species of this planet, or at lest the specimen standing in front of her.

"You're not seriously turning me down? You have been trying to get a look at his work for two years."

"How do you know that?" she asked angrily. Being angry and showing it was one of the few traditions that she was comfortable with.

"You're not the only one that is able to do some investigating."

She looked at him surprised, unable to think of what to say, he didn't give her a chance.

"You came here when you were three; You grew up over that bend in the Blue Crystal Towers. You were originally called just Lois, until you were sixteen. That is when you discovered through the Kol-Ar's holo's of history when you discovered the ship you're father sent you here in, and his history and you're earth name. Lois Joanna Lane. You keep you're ship at your home, and you have a passion for history, not just your home planet's history but your real home krypton….shall I go on?"

"Earth is my real home!"

"Your planet is gone. You have lived here all of your waking life…this is your home now."

"No…I don't…"

"What? Belong? I beg to disagree with you…I think now you belong here and no where else."

She remembered feeling completely caught off guard. He had baited her with her history to get to her personally. She found that extremely unlike a normal male Kryptonian. Still, he was the son of an elder, from the house of EL. It was sooo not going to happen. No matter how much she found she liked him.

"You surprise me… Send someone to my office to escort me and I'll take a look at you're fathers research. If you are right, I will print a retraction of what I was able to conclude."

"Oh no! It will be me or no one…And you never responded to my invitation."

She spoke the words with an effort to sound as serious and indifferent as she could manage.

"Fine, and the answer to your invitation is No."

He laughed with disbelieve, and very heartily. He could sense the attraction in her, and he could smell her arousal, the fact that she was originally from earth must have made her sexuality senses more apparent to the male Kryptonian. He therefore knew she would accept.

"You are quite something that I would have never expected from studying your holo!"

A Holo was a holographic four dimension picture. It could be about humans or places or times gone by.

She knew he could sense her attraction just by the way he laughed at her rejection.

And then he blindsided her. "I no longer want to be the next man in your bed…" and he hesitated for dramatic affect, and to see if she became disappointed, which her face, and body language, and especially her sexual odor betrayed her almost immediately.

He then said… "I will now begin to pursue to be the only man in your bed."

She felt unexplainable relive flood through here veins. Even then she denied the truth to herself, and attempted to deny it to him.

"The answer is still no! Can we go now?"

He held out his hand. Reluctantly, she took it. It was another Kryptonian custom one of many that she usually ignored. This time, she found her body responding to him and ignoring her mental instructions to walk ahead of him.

She looked him in the eye and took it.

Looking over now at his hand and then up, she caught his eye.

"It is a good memory is it not?" On Krypton, memories between couples could be shared, like picture books, but only after the couple had been intimate.

She found herself saying … "Yes it is. I wanted you the moment I saw you."

"It is my gift to you." He said gently as he kissed her forehead.

"I can't...I don't know how to give you.."

"It's okay; I know that the sharing is still difficult for you. When you have our children, you should be able to…just be patient."

"Come…" he guided her off the pillow of air and into a large sanctuary, surrounded by his family. She was finally on his ground, on his territory, and in moments, she would belong to him. But first she would receive the manifest blessings of his parents.


	11. LARA AND JOREL

**LARA AND JOR-EL**

Lara would be first, she was easy. She had become fond of Lois the day she had walked in on Lois arguing with Kal-el and the happiness she saw he had in his eyes as he fervently argued back and laughing as he did. Something she had never seen him do. Kal-el was always so serious. She knew Lois was good for him. And she let her know immediately. It made Lois feel welcome. Something she was not use to. Not on this planet.

Jor-el would be last. He was an Elder. He once stood for everything she was against. Now, she would become one of them, But only if he allowed it. He had spent every moment, lecturing and even scolding her. He would openly argue about her being from earth as a disadvantage, and argue with her about everything she wrote. She sensed he wanted more for his son, and was always waiting for the day he would say as much. Today should be that day. Surely he would say it now, and dash all their hopes in an instant.

On Krypton, tradition meant everything. But in her studies of her home planet, she felt immediately a kin to a concept not yet embraced on Krypton, not like it was on earth.

Freedom

Freedom to Jor-el meant chaos and destruction. It had been the reason her home had been destroyed.

To Lois it meant something else entirely. It meant everything. It was the argument they had each time she had come to their Crystal Palace. Jor-el was never intimidating to Lois. That is, not until she fell for his son. Even then she forcefully expressed her believes about the way her adopted planet should evolve; Truth, justice, and freedom for all.

But he would constantly remind her that death and destruction had run wild in her home earth. She would argue with him, that if the Earth had found a Phantom Zone as Krypton had, it might not have been so. And he would argue with her…

"If, if, if…The fact is the earth was destroyed because they didn't follow the wisdom of their elders and their history."

With Kal-el's hand in hers, she walked toward the people standing in a circle and first stopped in front of Kal-el's Mother Lara.

Kal-el spoke first.

"I bring you my lady and we request your blessings for becoming one."

She smiled and held out her hand and Lois took it. They were surrounded by a bubble of light and energy and suddenly they were invisible to everyone.

"I have come to seek your blessing." she said as she went on one knee. She was following tradition this time. Something she would rarely succumb to. But for Kal-el, she would do anything.

"Why do you seek this from me Daughter of the Earth?" Lara asked her softly. She had given her this endearment when she first met her, and would use it on occasion when Lois would do something to please or surprise her.

"Because my Love for your Son is strong," and then adding her own truth to the traditional request she said with much passion "And I can no longer run from it. It has taken me over."

Lara smiled. Lois was strong and passionate. Kal-el needed her like he needed the crisp air of Krypton on a Bright Red Day.

"Then I give you my Manifest Blessings…" and then holding out her hand, she held a medallion for Lois. "And I also wish to give you this." It was a diamond shaped medallion, with a picture of an earth creature inside- an eagle.

"It is your home's symbol for what you call freedom is it not?"

"Yes…It's beautiful Thank you"

She reached out and hugged Lara, completely against tradition. She didn't care.

Lara smiled. "It is ironic that you have this symbol given to you on the day that you are giving up yours so eagerly is it not?" She smiled as she spoke.

"Actually, I lost it the moment I saw Kal-el, but yes it is."

They separated and then according to tradition Lara spoke the words

"Once you have become one with Kal-el you no longer be Lois Lane, but Lois from the house of El and our daughter as well. Go and take these gifts with you"

The bubble burst and she found her hand in Kal-el's as she moved to his Father.

Fear gripped her heart and she in turn gripped his hand squeezing as if that would banish the fear that held her.

"I bring you my lady and we request your blessings for becoming one."

Looking as stern as ever, Jor-el held out his hands, she loosed her hand from Kal-els and took his fathers. Again their where surrounded by the bubble and became invisible to all.

"I have come to seek your blessing." she said again as she went on one knee. She was determined to follow this tradition without error, if only to impress upon Jor-el the strength of her love for his son. Something that she felt escaped his notice somehow.

"Why do you seek this from me." He asked sternly.

Still on one knee and her head still bowed, she said the words with as much attention to tradition as she could muster.

"Because my Love for your Son is strong," And then taking a breath she continued. "I ask for blessings for our joining, and request to become a daughter of the house of EL."

"Stand." He muttered still as sternly as ever.

She stood, her head still bowed as a sign of respect for his position as an elder.

"Lois, Daughter of Earth" He was using Lara's endearment for her, and this confused her…was it a good sign or bad? She was shaking, as she waited for him to continue.

"It is no secret that my son's choice for Manis Nymph, or His Bride as you would have said on earth, is not what I would have expected. However, I am aware of the affect you have on him. So I am willing to give my Manifest Blessing."

"Thank you Jor-el, father of Kal-el…"

"Look at me." He broke in stopping her

She raised her head and looked at him trying to look calm all the while.

"On one condition..."

She wanted to ask what condition. But tradition held that he had the floor. She kept silent.

"You would give up you position at the Krypton Sun, and work beside him instead."

She gasped for air. She was a writer and more than that, she wrote about the truth!. It is what she did. It was who she was. _"How could __he ask me to do that?"_

But she knew how, it was her opinions of their world's events that caused much of the disagreements between her and Kal-el's father. It would be a sign of discord to his equals if she kept writing about the outrageous ideas of freedom.

She looked hi in the eyes with a flash of her anger and asked him

"Why do you ask this of me Jor-el?"

"If you truly love my son as you say you do, it should be an easy choice."

"Writing about what I believe is as much a part of me as anything is. How could you ask this of me?"

"It is the only way I will give you my Manifest Blessing." Standing firm his eyes stayed on hers. She knew there was no way around it.

"Then I accept your condition, although you should know that I object to it!"

"As I was sure you would."

"Then I give you my Manifest Blessings. Know this daughter, once you have become one with Kal-el you no longer be Lois Lane, but Lois from the house of El and our daughter as well. From this day forth you will be bound to all the rules of this house.Go and take my blessing with you."

They stepped back and again the bubble burst. Again she was standing beside Kal-el, they turned and went to someone dressed on long robes and both knelt.

It was an ending as well as a beginning for her.


	12. WEDDING

**WEDDING**

"_Then I give you my manifest blessings. Know this daughter, once you have become one with Kal-el you no longer be Lois Lane, but Lois from the house of El and our daughter as well. Go and take my blessing with you."_

_They stepped back and again the bubble burst. Again she was standing beside Kal-el, they turned and went to someone dressed on long robes and both knelt._

_It was an ending as well as a beginning for her. _

She was shaking as she knelt down beside him; both of them went on one knee as the man in robes put his hands on each of their shoulders. He squeezed her hand an attempt to calm her. He could feel her urge to bolt. Like a wild animal he had caught her but not tamed her. She would always have the strong life force and will of her mother earth in her. He could not be happier.

"Who gives their blessings to their joining?"

Lois having no real parents, thought she had no one to speak for her. But Kal-el's cousin Kara surprisingly spoke up.

"I give my blessings on behave of Lois for her union to Kal-el"

A tear came to her eye at the thought that Kara would speak up on her behalf.

"What blessing do you give?"

"I give the blessing of the red flower, for passion and long nights."

She smiled and purposely watched Lois reaction to her blessing. The red flower was an aphrodisiac. Those giving their blessings would place the mostly symbolic ingredients in what looked liked a glass of red wine. This ingredient was not symbolic-it would actually work. The man in the long gold robe turned and picked up the cup and passed it down the circle. It stopped and she put the red flower herb in the cup. It dissolved. Kal-el grinned. Lois blushed and did her best not to role her eyes at anyone, although she wanted to.

Again the man placed his hand on each of their shoulders and again asked.

"Who gives their blessing to their joining?"

"I Lara, Mother of Kal-el give my blessing to their joining."

"What blessing do you give?"

"I give the blessing of the root of the Unicorn plant, for many children"

The root of the unicorn plant was an expensive root, used to bless couples with children. It usually worked very well, sometimes to well by giving the couples twins and triplets; thus the reason of the expense. Lois began thinking of where the nearest path to the closest door was so she could quickly escape this madness before it went too far. Usually in ceremonies the herbs added to the "Wine" was purely ritual. She had overlooked the fact that Kal-el being from such a wealthy family would actually stoop to "spiking" their ceremonial love cup with real live working herbs. She looked over her shoulder to see Lara putting the root in the cup. And yes it was the real thing, or so it appeared to be. Before she could turn her head, she saw Lara look at her with a smile and wink at her. Kal-el squeezed her hand bringing her back to the reason she was doing this when she looked at his eyes, and gave up a sigh. She bit her lip and once again bowed her head.

Again the man placed his hand on each of their shoulders and again asked.

"Who gives their blessing to their joining?"

"I Jor-el, Father of Kal-el give my blessing to their joining"

"What Blessing do you give?"

"I give the blessing of the sweet leaf for wisdom."

Lois gave a sigh of relieve, at this moment, she liked his Father Jor-el better than the other two family members.

"_Finally, something normal!"_ she muttered under her breath. Kal-el gave her a disapproving look as if to tell her to be quiet. She frowned right back at him. They both turned to the man in the gold robe when he squeezed their shoulder in warning.

They passed the cup back up to the man performing the ceremony and he placed the cup on the table in front of them.

"Who else wishes to give blessings to their joining?"

Those in the circle that were friend came and put in various herbs in the cup and each time they would stop and bow at the couple before returning to the circle. After this was finished, the man asked them to stand.

Standing they turned to look at each other. He asked them.

"What blessing do you have for each other?"

Kal-el being the Groom spoke first.

He took out a small stone and placed it in the palm of her hand. I give you the gift of Blue stone of sight, so that my love in my heart for you will never be a secret.

It was a blue stone and small, and it was not symbolic, not even a little. She knew he must have spent a small fortune on it.

"Kal-el!" she gasped as she examined the stone in amazement. He put his hand over hers and it dissolved between them as if it was never there.

The man in the robe spoke again and asked her

"What blessing do you have for him?"

"I give you the blessing of the root of the fire flower, that you will always know with a passion that I am forever yours."

The fire flower root had a history of mythology that told it could tell couples who partook of it together would always know where their mate was. It was a symbolic root. But her meaning was not. She placed the root in the cup and watched it dissolve.

The man then held up the cup and said.

"Here before you are the blessing of Rao and your families here with you today. Do you accept these blessings?"

"Yes we do." The both said at the same time. He then handed them the cup. Kal-el took it and held it while she drank from it. It was still sweet in spite of all the herbs that had been added. She then took the cup and held it while he drank from it, when they set the cup down the man in the robe asked

"Do you have the symbols of your Union?"

"Yes we do." They both answered.

He held up his, and Lois held up the one his mother gave her. She had the one that represented the orphanage that she came from. But when Lara gave her the medallion with the eagle, she knew that was the one to use. It was who she was after all.

They both held the medallions in their left hands.

The man standing before them watched as they each put their left hands close together. He then said…"You may begin"

When they put their left hands together, the symbols in each medallion burst thru with colors and powers that exploded through out the whole structure. It lasted a mere few seconds but felt like minutes. As they lifted their hands the medallions had both images on them. An eagle on one side and the Kal-el family crest on the other. He took his medallion and placed it over her head. "Lois, Daughter of Earth, I now take you as mine."

She took her medallion and places it over his head, and says. "Kal-el, son of Jor-el and Lara, I now take you as mine."

"The man in the robe spoke once more and said…"May these blessings and the blessings of Rao be with you all of your days. Who wishes for these two to complete their bonds, never to be broken?"

A loud rumble of "We do" and "I do" came from around the room.

"Then you must complete the bond."

They leaned in and gently she pressed her lips to his first, but he pulled her into to him, his arms firmly around her waist, he kissed her long until she finally got him to come up for air so she could breath.

She looked in his eyes and saw the world; His eyes, their future and happiness. Her world was all in his eyes. Kal-el,

"I'm so happy" she said, gasping for breath.

"Lois-el and Kal-el, from the house of El"

When he spoke these words the circle of family and friends enclosed around them and carried them away from the large cathedral. They found themselves set outside and hugs and kisses from all around them lasted only minutes. The place to where they would spend many days and nights was his home, the crystal palace, which was conveniently across from them. They need only walk to begin their time alone together.

He grasped her hand and announced… "It is it time"

It took moments to find her self in the luxury only the son of a Kryptonian Elder would know. Colors and Crystals surrounded the large room. A table of food and spirits was laid before them, and a large bed covered in flowers just beyond that.

Suddenly, she felt like Lois Lane from Smallville and not Lois Lane from Krypton….She felt the world spinning around her, His hands wrapped around her waist as he caught her from behind.

"You smell so perfect…" he whispered in her ear. It sent shivers down her spine with anticipation and fear. She didn't answer. She closed her eyes and wondered how she ended up here… _"I was in the Phantom Zone with Clark…not here…this is a dream…isn't it… We're not…we couldn't be…are we?"_


	13. MEDALLION

**MEDALLION**

_It took moments to find her self in the luxury only the son of a Kryptonian Elder would know. Colors and Crystals surrounded the large room. A table of food and spirits was laid before them, and a large bed covered in flowers just beyond that._

_Suddenly, she felt like Lois Lane from Smallville and not Lois Lane from Krypton….She felt the world spinning around her, His hands wrapped around her waist as he caught her from behind. _

"_You smell so perfect…" he whispered in her ear. It sent shivers down her spine with anticipation and fear. She didn't answer. She closed her eyes and wondered how she ended up here… "I was in the Phantom Zone with Clark…not here…this is a dream…isn't it… We're not…we couldn't be…are we?"_

But when he turned her around and pulled her into his warm mouth, she decided to not think about any of it…even for just a second. But as his hands grazed her back, and then even lower, he pulled her into his hardness. She began to feel hungry for him, and then warm and dizzy. She pulled away and opened her eyes, and found the world was spinning around her.

"Kal-el…"

"Kal-el…I can't stand."

He put his arm around her and said "Don't worry, I've got you now…"

She felt herself falling through space and when she felt as if her back had hit ground she looked up and saw Clark's face peering over her. Suddenly she realized the beautiful dream was over, and she was back in the Phantom Zone. She instantly longed for the mystical dream to be real.

"Don't worry, I've got you now…" Clark said as he brushed her hair out of her face.

"Kal-el…I can't stand." She answered him in a dream state. She was not even sure of what she was saying, or if she was even talking.

"Lois, are you alright?" The fact she called him Kal-el scared him. He tried to distract her from what she had just said. "Just lay still, you don't need to stand."

She finally opened her eyes and realized it was a dream. "_It was a dream…only a dream…"_

She tried lifting her self up to a sitting position, only to have to brush Clark's strong hands away so that she could.

He handed her something to drink and she held it and just looked at him…

"I had the strangest Dream."

He got up and paced, and tried not to look at her, but looked over his shoulder at her. She immediately became annoyed with him.

"_Why is he acting so nervous? I was the one who had the dream!"_

"Kal..." and then she caught her self… _"That was stupid!" _He swung around, the shock on his face was clear to anyone who would be paying attention, except she wasn't paying attention. She was to embarrassed for having called him the name of her newest _"Dream Lover"_

"Clark! Come here…Stop running around…I need…" and then shaking her head

"I don't know what I need." she said as he leaned back down to face her.

He swallowed hard and asked quietly, "What did you dream Lois?"

"You were someone else…I was still me…and we were on another planet."

He looked at her not sure what he should say.

"It was so real…"

He looked down and dared to ask, "Who was I?"

"You were called Kal-el, and you were royalty."

"Royalty?" he faked a laugh, something was up, and he knew it was not just some random dream.

She laughed as well, and said "Yea, I guess they didn't have any farms on this Planet."

For a moment silence stood firmly between them. He searched her eyes patiently and nervously waiting for more, and when she did not give more details he then asked

"Lois, what happened in this dream?"

The question made her blush, and she hated herself the moment she felt the rose color creep over her cheeks.

"Lois?" He saw the blush and it piqued his curiosity…

"It's okay…you can tell me anything."

"We argued about something I had written about your family and…that's all I remember!"

"And I was someone called Kal-el"

"Yea…crazy huh?"

He hesitated, he wasn't sure if he should press his luck or not. But he decided to push a little more.

"Is there something about this dream you aren't telling me?"

"No!" She threw the cover off of her and started to push herself up, only to be hit in the leg with what felt like a sledge hammer. It was the pain, and when he put his hands on her arms to gently push her back down, that's when she saw it, hanging half out of his pocket. It was the medallion. The same one he had in her dream. She quickly took it and held it in her hand it had his symbol; she turned it hoping to see the eagle on the other side and felt heartbroken when it didn't. It took him seconds to gasp. She had the medallion. But when he reached for it…he placed his hand on hers to take it from her; it did the same thing that it had done in the dream. Light shot out through both of them, and she found herself on her back and him on top of her. He was certain she would complain. Instead she said in amazement…

"That's the same thing it did in my dream!"

"What?"

"It happened almost exactly like that! We put both our hands on the medallion and it…it"

"What were we doing? Arguing, Fighting?"

"No…we…we were…" and then she did it. She grabbed his neck and pulled his mouth to hers. Suddenly he forgot all about the medallion. But she didn't, she held it firmly in her left hand as she proceeded to surrender to the emotions that where overwhelming her. 

"_Marriage or not…I'll have my honeymoon!"_


	14. THE LONG JOURNEY BACK

"_That's the same thing it did in my dream!"_

"_What?"_

"_It happened almost exactly like that! We put both our hands on the medallion and it…it"_

"_What were we doing? Arguing, Fighting?"_

"_No…we…we were…" and then she did it. She grabbed his neck and pulled his mouth to hers. Suddenly he forgot all about the medallion. But she didn't, she held it firmly in her left hand as she proceeded to surrender to the emotions that where overwhelming her.   
_

"_Marriage or not…I'll have my honeymoon!"_

She pulled him to her anxiously so that he was straddling her, and then anxiously pulled his coat off his arms and throw it behind them both. His hands propped himself up on both sides of her shoulders and when he moved his leg to get a better position, that's when she felt the pain hit her like a sledge hammer. He knew it the moment it did, her felt her cries inside his mouth as she reluctantly pushed on him to move.

He jumped over to her side quickly and began apologizing.

"Lois, I'm sorry…are you okay?"

"No. I'm not okay…this is seriously cramping my style!"

She laid her head back in defeat. "God! Can this get any worse?"

It took one second for things to get worse.

A swarm of dark bird like creatures began swarming around Clark. He reached for the medallion but was thrown back at least thirty feet away from the small lean too. Lois jumped up in pain and threw the nearest thing at them, to no avail. Clark leapt forward and they attacked him.

Clawing and tear at his flesh, Lois screamed and he shouted at her "The medallion…let me have the…" 

She put herself between him and the creatures and thrust the medallion in his hand. He thrust it at the creatures and they disintegrated. He fell back and closed his eyes. Blood was gushing from his chest and face. Now it was her turn too tend to his wounds.

She took his torn shirt off of him and poured water on his wounds. "God, this looks bad!" she worried aloud.

"It's fine, I just need to get in the sun."

"What? Are you delirious? And in case you haven't noticed…there is no sun!"

"Never mind..."

"We need to find a better place to hide out until we get out of here." Lois picked up the map and handed it to him. "I don't understand how you manage to keep surprising me…but I'm hoping you can keep it up just a little longer."

"That makes two of us!"

He took several minutes looking at the map, and then looking at her pacing clumsily in the small hut. He saw where they could go, but it would delay getting back by several hours, maybe even a day.

"Here…it's a cave….it should provide better protection."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because, I recognize the symbol on it." It was an S in a diamond, and another symbol for health. He was hoping it would help speed the healing on Lois leg…if that was even possible. In this strange land…anything was possible.

"Right, because that explains everything!"

"Lois, just trust me…please."

"Fine, but one of these days, you are going to have to explain something to me!"

"Here." He threw one of the strange robes to her. We need to fit in. then he handed her a knife. He kept the medallion. He put on another robe.

"Don't we just look like the happy mar…." she stopped, she almost said the happy married couple.

"What?"

Embarrassed, she replied quickly "Nothing, never mind!" and started out ahead of him.

"Slow down Lois! You supposed to be following me!"

"Well then lead Dammit!" And she held her arm out point at the bare terrain in front of them.

He put his arm around her waist in attempt to help her, but she gently pushed him away.

"I'm fine Clark…"

And then she stumbled. He of course caught her. She pulled herself back up and gave him a glare as she leaned on him for support. He shot back a disapproving look.

"_One minute she nice and the next she so mad. What did I do?"_ Clark wasn't sure at all if she was giving in to him or just giving in to her fears. He wished it was him, but he was afraid it was her fears getting the better of her. Either way, he wasn't going to let her down.

"How far is this cave?"

"At least three hours away…"

"Three hours?"

"I can carry you when you get tired…" 

She looked him with her mouth hanging open and shaking her head she very firmly said…

"Don't you dare!"

It was going to be along journey


	15. SIDETRACKED

**SIDETRACKED**

They silently walked side by side. As long as he knew her, Lois had never said so little. "It's not far too much further," He said.

She started to tell him about the old man and what he said, but decided against it. "Do you have any thing left in that pouch?" she said instead. He handed her the pouch, and was surprised to find it almost full. She handed it back to him after taking a drink, "Here, you need to drink something too! She demanded him. "How are you going make it to this portal if I have to carry you?!" She said sarcastically.

Clark smiled, he couldn't help himself. Always acting so tough, and yet she had been rejoicing to see him hours ago. "And where would you be if I hadn't come to take you to the portal!" He snapped back, eagerly awaiting her sarcastic reply. But to his surprise she was silent again. This was aggravating. Now he didn't know what to say, or if he should say anything at all!

"You know," she said in an unusually meek manner, "I thought had died, I wondered if I was being punished for yelling at you like I did." He just looked at her, speechless but then she continued- "I was wrong. And I'm sorry that I yelled at you." Stopping in her tracks she said "I would like to think I could promise not to do it again, but it's not that easy for me- with my temper and my mouth." -Then looking at him she finished with "I didn't mean any of it…"

And as soon as she said these words, she started forward again leaving him behind her, not wanting to give him a chance to answer. Clark didn't know what to say, he gathered that she didn't want him to say anything. And so he caught up with her and remained silent.

It took exactly one hour for him to pick her up and start to carry her. By the time she finally relented he had attempted to pick her up two previous times only to have her bat his hands away. Her arms around his neck, she leaned her head back and tried to not think of the pain, she would open her eyes and catch him looking at her longingly.

"I hate feeling helpless." She said firmly after catching his glances for the third time.

"You need to save your strength."

"Yea, yea I know…"

He looked at her and looked ahead… "Lois…can we talk about…"

"No!"

He let out a breath and instinctively pulled her body closer to him, he concentrated his hearing for the sound of her heart, but in this land, his abilities didn't work.

She laid her head against his chest and let him hold her just how he wanted to. She did need to rest, and with danger looming everywhere, she didn't need to be fighting with him. But they didn't need to love wrestling either, that's how he almost got hurt the last time.

Two hours later, she had gotten down and then carried again until they reached the caves.

They had to climb up about half a mile and with her leg, it seemed like ten miles. As they slowly entered a maze of honeycombed like entrances, they gasped at what they saw as they reached further into the structure. As ugly as the planet outside was, it was just the opposite inside, Crystals and colors surrounded the entrance they danced and sounds like that of water in the caves running and dripping in the distance.

The temperature dropped instantly at least 30 degrees, and then the came to a glass like door…it was large and round, and had no hinges, it was more like a secret entrance. On the door, there was writing in krypton.

Clark looked at it reading it quickly, he was suddenly worried. The writing on the opening said.

"All those who cross these grounds, it is forbidden to pass through. Only one at a time and only those from the house of El, whether it be blood or bond will be allowed to pass."

In a circle there where symbols just as in the cave, he knew which one would take him inside, but he couldn't…not without Lois.

"No offense Smallville, but looking at these crazy symbols isn't going to help anything!"

"I don't think we can get in."

"We can try!" she said with a frown. And then she put her hand on the symbol that was the family crest and tried pushing on the glass like door…"Don't just stand there, help me push…." Before she could finish a light shot out through her, and Clark became scared…he thought it would hurt her. But instead the symbol glowed on her other hand…the one that held the medallion hours ago, and then she was one the other side, looking at him through the glass.

"What the Hell just happened!"

He grinned…she was okay, and inside. "Don't worry…I'm coming."

He put his hand on the symbol and just as she had, he was teleported to the other side.

She jumped in his arms and then stepped back and hit him in the arm and then said…"Don't scare me like that!"

"What? What did I do?"

Before she could answer, the looked around at what looked strangely like his fortress, only his was white crystal, this was yellow and red and purple lights coming through the crystals. There was writing on all the walls, and a chamber like pedestal. Reading the writings on it, he could see it was for healing and strength.

"This is…beautiful…" she walked around touching the crystals…"It's so much like what was in my dreams…"

When she touched certain crystals, he could see the symbol on the back of her hand…his family symbol.

"Lois, what did you dream?"

He walked over to her and turned her to face him. She gave him a serious look and said…

"Nothing, just a lot of buildings like this."

He lifted her hand and showed it to her…she saw the symbol and she suddenly was confused... "What…why is this…"

He lifted his had and showed it to her, as he touched the crystal; it glowed on his hand as well. She was looking at it shaking her head in puzzlement, when he realized that, she shouldn't have been able to come through and that something had happened. Somehow they were joined. He was unsure as to how. He felt a sudden wave of pleasure race though his mind at the thought that she belong to the house of El…she was his. He leaned down and caught her mouth with his. She was caught completely off guard; she melted against him and began to battle his tongue with hers.

"_He tastes like Kal-el…"_she thought to herself.

After a minute, he let her go and looked at the portal for healing while she caught her breath; he looked back at her and said… "We should try this…It might help your leg."

"Right…and you would know this …how?"

He shrugged his shoulders and said…. "Just a hunch."

"I swear, you and your hunches…I don't get how you know so much…are you psychic or something?"

"Come-on…Step inside…what can happen?"

"Well…I could fall to my death like I almost did when I got here…I could be transported to somewhere that is more hell like than this place…Why don't you step inside if you are so sure!"

"I'll go with you…Look, this symbol here; it's for healing…I think it will make your leg better…"

She rolled her eyes and said… "You better be right about this!"

He knew that he was right. The symbols explained the purpose of the small portal on the crystal pedestal. The cave was a refuge for the members of the house of El. It was built by Jor-el if any of his family had to travel to the zone or was trapped. When she stepped inside with him the portal was surrounded by light. She suddenly could see flashed of light/energy flowing through her body, he held her and could feel his own self become stronger, not as strong as on earth, but renewed. It seemed like hours, even though it was only minutes.

The portal light vanished and she almost stumbled off the pedestal, as if it was the light holding her up.

"That…was…Oh my God…Clark…it worked. Can you believe that?" She was looking at her leg and hoping and moving on it as if it was nothing.

Behind the portal there was a flash of colors. When they looked around at it, it turned out to be a holographic map Krypton, the way it use to be..

Anywhere you touched the map…it would light up…and show towers of crystal and structures, mountains of ice and Volcanoes.

"What is this? This is amazing!" He couldn't even hear her. It was his home before earth, Lara and Jor-els Home…what his life might have been like…Normal. And then he saw in the writing, it had the history of Krypton integrated inside. He could release it by a touch. He backed away quickly.

"_I can't look at while she is here…I shouldn't risk coming back…"_He though nervously and wasn't sure what he should do.

She touched his shoulder and asked again… "Clark, what is this?"

"I don't know…We should leave it alone." He lied and hoped she would let it go

"This is like the place from my dream…it's just like it!"

She shook her head and looking at him she asked, "Why did I dream about this?"

Clark looked over at her and wondered the same thing. Was it a warning of some sort? Or was it the reason she was connected. He looked at her the curiosity clearly on his face and asked…

"Lois what exactly did you dream?"

She frowned and said with embarrassment…

"I already told you…"

"No, you told me part of the dream." And then he made up his mind. He wasn't going to leave until she told him. He gently grabbed her arms he turned her around and leaned in and said… "I need to hear all of it!"


	16. QUESTIONS

**QUESTIONS**

"_Lois what exactly did you dream?"_

_She frowned and said with embarrassment…_

"_I already told you…"_

"_No, you told me part of the dream." And then he made up his mind. He wasn't going to leave until she told him. He gently grabbed her arms he turned her around and leaned in and said… "I need to hear all of it!" _

"Why? It was just a dream Clark."

"No…it wasn't just a dream…It's a connection of some kind…"

"A connection to what? What are you even talking about? Okay, I'll admit it's a bit cryptic that this map reminds me of it, but it's just a weird coincidence…"

"Lois, just tell me…what happened in the dream? Did anyone get hurt? Who was in the dream…what was everyone called...where…"

"Clark!" She frowned at him suspiciously…he stopped his questions and looked at her sheepishly

"What aren't you telling me?"

He walked around her, his back now to her she turned and stared waiting for a moment for him to answer, and started getting angry when he didn't. She walked up to him and turned him around and started again

"How did you get here in the first place, How are you able to understand these crazy symbols…And what exactly where you doing at the fight?"

He frowned at her, not wanting to tell her anything. But then he reluctantly offered…

"Answer my questions and I'll answer yours."

She raised an eyebrow and looked at him skeptically.

"Really?" she asked doubtfully,

"Yes, but you have to go first."

"Ah…I knew there was a catch!" She paced around him not bothering to look at him or show her aggravation.

"Are you afraid to tell me?" he suddenly realized to her out loud.

Denial quickly swept though her as she emphatically dismissed his question. "You are the most cryptic guy I know, and you are accusing me of being afraid?"

He crossed his arms and said "I call it like I see it!"

She glared at him and then shook her head and said… "We're getting no where!"

"He walked over and put a hand on each arm and then ever so quietly asked…

"Lois, please…what did you dream…I promise it will stay between us...but I have to know."

She looked up at him and finally began to try to confess…

"I dreamed we…we..."

"…Lois?" he pleaded quietly

"I dreamed we got married."


	17. CONNECTED

**CONNECTED**

"_Lois, please…what did you dream…I promise it will stay between us...but I have to know."_

_She looked up at him and finally began to try to confess…_

"_I dreamed we…we..."_

"…_Lois?" he pleaded quietly_

"_I dreamed we got married."_

It was not the answer he expected. He just stared at her with a worried look on his face.

"Don't look at me like that! I'm as freaked out about it as you are! Why do you think I didn't want to tell you?" she exclaimed. She walked around him and crossed her arms. She was disappointed at the way he looked at her, As if it was such a bad thing.

"Married? How?" He walked over and turned around a frowning Lois Lane.

"On some strange planet…in a tower of Ice…you had a different family."

"Do you remember their names?"

I don't know…let me think…Lara was the name of your mother…and your father was named…Jor- something…Jor-el."

"Jor-el…and Lara? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

He grabbed the medallion and looked at it and then back at her.

Lois began to babble nervously…"Everything seemed so real, But it wasn't real…Did the medallion do this? It could have put a sleep induced trance on me…What do you think it means?"

"What else do you remember?"

"You father was a jerk…"

"What???"

"He wanted me to stop working as a reporter and work with you instead…Can you believe that?"

Clark gave her a funny look and then asked impatiently… "Do you remember anything else?"

Your Mother was nice…she gave me the same medallion, except it had an eagle inside…for freedom, and we kept asking for your families…blessings."

He paced around. They were connected, but he had no idea how. It was obvious that it was more than a dream. But how much more scared him and excited him as well.

"Look, it has something to do with the medallion… when we leave this place, everything will be back to normal." She said trying to convince herself as well as him.

He turned around and looked at her, weighing how much he should tell her. It took him just a few seconds looking into her eyes to chicken out and say the least he needed to.

"I don't know Lois…we might be …connected somehow, and I don't know if leaving here will undo it…Do you remember anything about time in this dream?"

"Oh no…"

"What?"

"You told me that once it was done…it couldn't be undone…"

She pried herself away from him and said…

"This is crazy…I think we need to get out of here!"

"Don't panic, we don't even know if it has done anything Lois…"

"This is your fault!" she said as she slammed her fist into his shoulder.

"MY FAULT? You're the one that had the dream!"

"And you're the one that brought that thing with you! Where did you get that thing anyway?" She gave him one of her looks that said she knew he wasn't telling her everything.

"I…I…found it in the same shack as the map…"

"You should have left it alone! This place is dangerous…there's no telling how dangerous that thing is!"

"And it also saved our lives, or don't you remember?"

"Great! Now what are we going to do with this thing?"

She turned around and looked at the giant map on the wall of Ice. As she was looking away, he held up the medallion between them. It glowed, but she didn't see anything. The symbol that shone though a light was the Kryptonian symbol for union. It was true, they were connected.

The question that kept running through Clark's mind was how?


	18. STUBBORN

STUBBORN

They silently made their way through the desert. Each not saying a word to each other. Lois kept looking at him. She knew he was holding back. She just wasn't sure what. None of it made sense. But nothing with him ever made sense she had known him. Finally, she decided to break the silence.

"You wanted to stay and find out something…didn't you?"

He turned nervously and looked at her shocked. _"Am I that transparent?"_ he thought to himself as he searched for words to deflect her.

"And you didn't because of me?"

"Lo-is! We need to get out of this place…." And then shaking his head he added "You're not making any sense"

"Really?"

He just looked at her and rolled his eyes, and then quickly moved ahead of her. She ran up quickly to catch up with him.

"Whatever it is…you might not get a chance to find out whatever it is you need to find out….whatever that is…"

He stopped and looking at her he said simply…"What?"

She turned and stopped him dead in his tracks…"You're hiding something!"

"Wait…No…What makes you think…"

Then she did the unbelievable. She grabbed him and kissed him and before he could do anything she had him melted against her. How could he win such a fight.

He suddenly realized he needed to pull away, Lois was curious, and that was always a recipe for disaster.

He turned and started walking ahead of her…"No Lois!"

"What?" she said as she chased after him

"I know what you're doing…and no!"

"Come-on Smallville…when are you going to get another chance like this?"

"Quit being so…so…stubborn Lois, I need to get you out of here!"

"I'm not being stubborn; you're the one that's being stubborn!"

He just rolled his eyes and started walking ahead of her.

"Look….Isn't it better to do this while you have someone with you?"

"Lo-is." He replied in a disapproving tone

"Look, the military rarely sends anyone on a mission alone, you always have backup."

"No Lois."

She frowned and then decided to try a different approach.

"I'll find a way back…I'll look around all by myself. "

"He turned around his mouth hanging open…. "You wouldn't….you couldn't…you have no idea how…."

She walks ahead of him and says "All I have to do is find another zoner…and I'm in like Flynn!"

"Lo-is!"

"Had a change of heart…_**Kal-el**_?"

His mouth hanging open, he suddenly realized, she knew.


	19. BACKTRACKING

**BACKTRACKING**

They were heading back to the cave. Clark walked in silence next her wondering what she knew, but to cautious to reveal anything by asking her.

She kept looking at him with narrow eyes.

She had turned around and he had followed her in silence. He wasn't going to tell her anything. Her attempt to bait him with the only thing she could think of had gotten her nowhere.

She had never met someone so cryptic. She had teased Chloe about crushing on Richie Cunningham once, but in reality, Clark was more like Isaac Asimov's disappearing man. One minute he was there and the next he wasn't. For someone that lived on a farm he had more secrets than a CIA operative, and was more closed to sharing any of them than fort Knox would be in sharing its gold.

Still he was following her, allowing her to discover the mystery with him.

And had made several attempt to get close to her.

For him, that was huge. He was worse about committing than she was. She stopped walking and looked at him. She felt dizzy with a realization, one that pointed to the course they had unwittingly started on. All his secrets, all his contradictions, and especially all his tendencies to contradict her at every turn…and her him…

Clark looked back at her when she stopped. He walked over and touched her arm. "Lois?"

"Tell me…tell my something…"

"Lois, I…" he was shaking his head, obviously was going to go into his standard line of crap.

"Tell me how you know about this place…these symbols…how do you know what to do? What are you hiding when you don't answer questions, when you disappear or how come you can get across town faster than anyone I've seen?

"Lois…"

"How do you get all these hunches? Since the day I met you when you told me Chloe wasn't dead…how did you even know that?"

"Lois…the important thing is…"

"Don't give me that…that's what you always say when your hiding something!"

"Look…let's keep going…we need to get back before it gets dark…while we can still find our way…"

"No…first you answer one question…just one…then I'll go anywhere with you."

It was the words he had always wanted to hear from her, words he never thought she would say. He had fantasized about saving her from all the disasters that hse continuously got herself in and having her realize that it was him who saved her, then she would look at him with eyes filled with volumes just for him. Of course he always had saved her and then didn't tell her. But now she was one the brink of admitting something. But first he would have to take a chance….he didn't want to put her in danger just because he wanted her.

Looking at her, he knew, she would always manage to find trouble. She was safer with him. So he nervously shook his head yes, and anxiously looked at her waiting for her one question.

"Why are you afraid of opening up to anyone you know…too me?"

"I'm protecting you."

Shaking her head she didn't understand "Protecting me? From what?"

"Trust me?" and then bring his face closer to hers, he looked into her eyes and whispered..."Lois please…just trust me…"

She nodded and then buried herself in his arms. Wrapping his arms around her tightly, he sighed with relief. When she heard him she quickly realized that the journeys they would take together had just begun.


	20. HERO

**HERO**

He was going to regret it. He just knew it, but walking back into the cave and looking around, he also knew that as hard headed as Lois was…there was no way around it. She was about to embark on this journey with him. Now her life was literally his responsibility, he wondered if she realized that- How this changed everything between them.

"Nickel for your thoughts?"

"Isn't that supposed to be a penny for your thoughts?" He said tearing his gaze away from the map and on to her.

"Inflation…" She said with a teasing smile and a shrug of her shoulders.

She wasn't taking this seriously. Already alarmed at the direction the relationship was headed; her attitude didn't reassure him at all.

Taking her by the shoulders he decided to make an attempt to take charge of the whole situation.

"Lois, you need to understand something."

Her hands rested on his forearms and she attempted to quiet the butterflies his intense look had given her. To no avail, touching him and breathing only made them flutter worse, an awkward and alarmed "What?" was blurted out at him before she could stop it.

"You have to understand…This is my world we are about to travel to…you have to do exactly as I say…each and every time…no questions no objections…if you want to go through this journey with me…you have to agree to do what I tell you regardless whether you agree with it or not or even understand it…do you understand me?

"Take it easy Clark…I have some pretty good skills at kicking ass, and I have already paid a visit to this place…remember?"

Smiling at him smugly, she didn't realize the depth of his resolve.

Raising his eyebrow firmly and looking at her with one of the most serious looks on his face that she had ever seen, he stated emphatically…"Lois, I am serious about this…you will not be going anywhere…we will not be going anywhere, unless I have your solemn word on this"

"Okay, Okay …I get it…you're in charge…"

"That's not a promise."

"I promise…" she answered impatiently.

"Swear to me…swear on your entire white snack collection, that you will do what I say when I say it,…and Only what I say to do…nothing more…" He raised his eyes in an attempt to prod her into comprehension that he meant it.

"My white snack collection? Are you insane? I've had those albums and CD's for years!"

"I mean it Lois…It's the only way I'm allowing you to do this with me."

Frowning, she answered quickly, "Fine…as much as I'll hate it…you are in the driver's seat… I take my orders from you…no deviations…I swear…" and then rolling her eyes when she noticed the ever increasing frown separating them, so she finished with, "I swear on my entire white snack album….Happy?"

"No…I won't be happy until we get back home…"

She turned him to face her and said quietly…"Smallville…you worry too much."And then placing her hand on the side of his face, she said with authority…"Clark you were meant to take this journey."

He frowned and answered quickly, "Maybe…but you weren't!"

Frowning at him, she said…"Come on Smallville, in what universe do you think I would _ever_ be safer without you around?" she raised her eyebrows in a silent challenge, he looked at her eyes and he realized suddenly…she was right.

Then she leaned in closer, and while gently stroking his face she whispered…"Clark, you're my hero…where else would I be?"


End file.
